Melasma and Photodamage Patient Recruitment

The Challenge

Melasma affects approximately 5 million people in the United States and is most prevalent among women with darker skin pigments. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, the melanocytes, found in darker skin, produce melanin, and melasma patients’ melanocytes make even more melanin in response to sunlight, heat, or hormonal changes. Patients with melasma develop light brown, dark brown, or blue-grey flat patches on their skin, typically around the face or forearms. Hormonal changes, sun exposure, and skin care products may trigger or worsen melasma.Photodamage is known by various names, including photoaging, sun damage, solar damage, or photodamage and can affect people of all races and genders. Common symptoms include wrinkles, liver spots, freckles, uneven skin texture, and decreased elasticity. People with photodamage typically develop symptoms in their late twenties or early thirties. Similar to melasma, photodamage is triggered and worsened by sun exposure.This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of sunscreen in improving melasma and photodamage symptoms for women of color. Clinical trials have historically excluded communities of color and women, positioning "maleness" and "whiteness" as norms. Clinically Media strives to break down barriers to clinical research for patients of all marginalized communities by creating diverse and inclusive patient recruitment and retention campaigns for all clinical trials. Clinically Media was retained to recruit melasma or photodamage patients of color who self-identified as women and exceeded our goal number of referrals.

Additional Challenges

• COVID-19 (site shutdowns, public’s fear of leaving home)
• High screen-fail rate
• New restrictions and regulations within digital advertising

Study Stats

• 1 Research Site
• 30 participants: site enrollment goal
• 115 prequalified referrals from Clinically Media

Clinically Media's Solution

• SOCIAL MEDIA

  Trackable digital campaign with an emphasis on highly targeted social media advertising delivered qualified referrals

• REFERRAL MANAGEMENT

  HIPAA compliant proprietary software allowed secure access to referrals’ contact information for site staff

• REFERRAL TRACKING

  Internal tracking for each qualified referral helped achieve study’s enrollment goal

• SITE MANAGEMENT

  Consistent, close communication and follow up with research site allowed us to provide an individualized recruitment strategy

Meticulous Approach

• Weekly updates to advertising images and captions to avoid saturating audiences• Retargeting audiences through website data analysis • Adjusting advertisements’ radius using study’s inclusion criteria  • Inclusive and diverse patient representation in advertising materials and audience creationThe first step in Clinically Media’s precision recruitment campaign strategy involves  extensive research on the indication. With that, the study’s advertising materials are  produced with diverse representation to ensure inclusivity in messaging and audience  targeting. The final designs along with close monitoring of the advertisement’s data, audience, and performance, generated 115 prequalified referrals. The Californian research site was able to reach their enrollment goal and fill the trial. 

The Clinically Media team is efficient and flexible. They brought new, customized solutions to our recruitmentcampaign for melasma patients, and they surpassed our goal number of referrals. We enjoyed working with them and hope to work together again in the future.Dr. Dhawan, Center for Dermatology